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Redox Titrations with Manganate(VII) and Thiosulfate

A redox titration needs no separate indicator when one reagent changes colour as it reacts. Manganate(VII) against iron(II), and iodine against thiosulfate, are the two routines worth owning.

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What a learner can do afterwards

  • Explains why manganate(VII) acts as its own indicator and describes the end point
  • Builds the full ionic equation from the two half equations before calculating anything
  • Calculates the concentration or the purity of a sample from the titre and the mole ratio
  • Explains why the iodine and thiosulfate route needs starch added only near the end

1 · Read

Manganate(VII) is its own indicator in acid solution, so you add no separate indicator at all. The end point is the first faint pink that stays, which is the first drop of extra manganate tinting the flask.

Before any numbers, build the full ionic equation from the two half equations. Manganate takes 5 electrons while each iron(II) gives 1, so 1 manganate reacts with 5 iron(II).

Try it together

Picture a dissolved iron tablet needing 25.0 cm3 of 0.020 M manganate. That is 5.0 x 10-4 mol of manganate, times 5 gives 2.5 x 10-3 mol of iron, times 55.8 gives 0.1395 g of iron in the tablet.

Good to know

With iodine and thiosulfate, hold the starch back until near the end. Added early, starch locks onto the iodine and will not let go cleanly, so the finish drags and the end point blurs.

Manganate shows its own pink end, half equations fix the 1 to 5 ratio, titres give mass, and starch waits until near the end.

2 · Watch

Take it off screen

Print a worksheetA4 with an answer key page for grown-ups. No screen, no internet.

Where it sits

Then practise

8 questions wait behind this lesson, each with its answer explained. Every answer feeds the sky: stars light as they are learned, and dim when it is time to come back.

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Redox Titrations with Manganate(VII) and Thiosulfate · Science, ages 17 to 18 · LightMySky